The fixed camera on the stern of Vestas Wind captured the worst possible unintended jibe. That's when you're blasting along at 19 knotsthrough a tropical offshore night, but then your Volvo Ocean 65 suddenly smashes its way up onto a reef shearing off the rudders and spinning 180° as waves and wind take total control. That is a frightened and nearly naked man beyond the limp mainsheet and when watching the video you, too, may utter involuntary curses. No one was hurt, though, and the crew has been frank about the mistakes made. This has led to some useful conversations about the dangers of electronic charting, but it also reminded me of an uncommon electronic charting feature that might have prevented this shipwreck...

It's not on the Fusion website yet, but the MS-BB300 black box marine stereo was introduced in Fort Lauderdale -- press release here -- and is scheduled to ship this month. In a way it's Fusion's first black box unit, but then again they built the trailblazing Simrad SonicHub in 2010 and then the Garmin Meteor 300 last year. In fact, the BB300 is very similar to the Meteor 300 and whereas Garmin acquired Fusion in May, the BB300 can be viewed as a statement about Fusion's continuing independence. The Meteor may integrate with non-Garmin displays over NMEA 2000, but the BB300 promises N2K Fusion-Link integration with many current MFDs from Humminbird, Murphy, B&G, Lowrance, Simrad and Garmin. A further indication that Fusion is going to keep on innovating in concert with multiple partners was a preview look at four new marine stereo heads that will be formally introduced early next year...

Yes, iPad navigation fans, that is Furuno 1st Watch WiFi Radar overlaid on the Nobeltec TimeZero charting app. I wasn't even sure that an iPad could overlay radar over a simple vector chart, but here it is over a finely rendered raster chart blended with hi-res satellite photos. This is virtually the same mix of navigation data that I've found so useful on a Furuno TZT and the short demo file I saw running in Fort Lauderdale suggested that it may pan and zoom (and even go 3D) almost as smoothly on an iPad. It's a major advance in tablet navigation, I think, but the TimeZero app update coming next spring has more to brag about...

Navico GoFree cloud content and servicesThe Simrad NSO evo2, NSS evo2, B&G Zeus2 and Lowrance HDS Gen2 Touch MFDs will all get a January software update that allows users to buy new charts, update software, and more directly from their boat displays. Moreover, GoFree is being upgraded to a separate "brand" that covers all the cloud-enabled content and services offered by Navico on all three "hardware" brands...

Last week there were two Panbots roaming the annual Marine Equipment Trade Show (METS) floor. Henning Dürr and Kees Verruijt were there trying to find (some) of what was new and interesting. This first entry focuses on vendors that Henning visited.

AIS MOB and SART with DSC AIS MOB devices were once called Personal AIS SARTs and are the baby brothers to commercial lifeboat AIS SARTs, but with lower requirements for range and operating hours. The advantage is that they can be made smaller, small enough to be carried by individuals. Since both device classes are relatively new, older displays capable of AIS targeting don't necessarily handle this type of AIS well (good behaviour illustrated here). Additionally AIS MOB beacons are not yet part of the official GMDSS, so officially the world wide SAR operations do not need to react to them and/or may not have the equipment to use them. Ocean Signal and Weatherdock showed new models with a DSC twist that aims to fix this -- as was discussed here on Panbo in 2012.

When I mentioned strong contenders for the 2014 DAME electronics award, one I had in mind was the SeaPilot Vector Compact GPS Compass. Yes, in many ways it's just another GPS compass, but it's substantially smaller, substantially less expensive, and the design seems suited to good performance on many types of boats. Before getting into the details, though, let's deal with possible brand confusion. While True Heading, parent of the recreational SeaPilot brand, has been selling Vector GPS Compasses in Europe for some time, the core technology comes from Hemisphere and similar compasses are sold by ComNav, Si-Tex and others. The Vector Compact is not only a new model but is also much more exclusive to True Heading, which has recently expanded to North America.

There are two reasons I was a little surprised to read that the Glomex WebBoat 4G won a DAME award this morning at METS. It seems like a minor update to the WebBoat 3G that Kees Verruijt covered here last year, and I thought that the DAME 2014 electronics and software nominees included several strong contenders. On the other hand, I know how hard it is to be a judge, and I thoroughly agree with their statement that WebBoat's all-in-one approach to marine WiFi and cell communications addresses, "an area of rapidly growing interest in the marine industry." I can't count how many cruisers I met recently who were struggling with Internet connectivity, even along the U.S. coast. And I'm happy to report that another all-in-one solution, The WiriePro, will soon be available...

Whoever buys or charters Island Heiress will get an amazing audio video system. The 1996 Cheoy Lee has gone through a massive refit -- notice how much the satellite domes have changed from the original configuration -- including a $250,000 $500,000 custom entertainment system put together by Unlimited Marine Services Inc. (UMSI). You can be at any one of eight large Samsung LED HDTV screens using an iPad to choose from DirectTV, Apple TV, boat cameras, navigation screens, and the world's first install of a KVH IP MobileCast superyacht package. In Fort Lauderdale I got to see some of the phenomenal complexity behind the AV goodness and even picked up some equipment tips possibly relevant to more modest vessels...

I see a lot of marine electronics and I'm hard to impress. There's a lot of the new, faster, bigger and brighter appearing every year. However I get very enthused when I see real innovation appear. CHIRP sounder technology and WiFi enabled chart plotters are a couple of excellent examples. But now there is Signal K, and I'm really excited. This is potentially a game changer on a grand scale, and I'll attempt to explain what's happening and its long term implications for your boat.

While I was just goofing around during the Raymarine demo cruise seen via screenshot above, in retrospect my thumbs are seriously up about both the new CP200 CHIRP SideVision sonar and the new CAM200IP marine camera. I've been on the water twice now with SideVision and it seems to have noticeably greater side looking range than the Navico, Garmin and Humminbird side imaging I've previously experienced; there are numerous factors at work here, though, and they'll have to wait for a future discussion. Today I'm writing about advanced boat cameras, particularly the CAM200, which could be an excellent addition to most any boat running Raymarine LightHouse II software...